Rascals in Paradise? Details emerge of South American trip taken by lawmakers and Schwarenegger officials

Much has already been reported about last month’s South American tour led by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Schwarzenegger chief of staff Susan Kennedy to learn about alternative fuels.

The trip was paid for by a non-profit group made up of corporations and labor groups with much business before the Legislature. A number of outfits represented on the trip also have keen interest in clean energy issues like Chevron, Southern California Edison and PG&E.

But new details have risen from records obtained by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights that raise more questions about why lawmakers and administration officials are traveling to far away places at much expense to people with much at stake in the Capitol.

* Participants flew first cabin at a cost of as much as $8,600.

* They stayed in a number of luxury hotels and golf resorts including the famed Copacabana Palace that sits on Rio’s famous beach — this is the same palace that the Rolling Stones stayed when the band played its free concert last year.

* Chevron and General Motors — both major contributors to California lawmakers and Schwarzenegger — gave presentations on energy issues during the trip.

+ The infamous trip to the pig farm to see how hog manure can be turned into natural gas did indeed begin with a four hour bus trip. The tour itself lasted from 10 a.m. until noon. After that, lunch was hosted by AgCert — a company that trades gas emission for profit. The listed meal was Brazilian BBQ — but one would think that was mostly beef not pork.

Lastly there’s the issue of one of the travel companies that appears on travel records has having helped put the trip together — “Rascals In Paradise.”

While it might make perfect sense that a company with such a name would have book travel for the 14 lawmakers and administration officials — the sponsors of the trip, the California Foundation on the Environment and the Economy — insist it is not true. They said that travel bookings were handled by Casto Travel, based in Santa Clara. Rascals In Paradise is a division of Casto that does travel for families and was inadvertently referenced on the travel documents for the foundation.